Customer Service Plan

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Customer Service Plan

This Plan is adopted for all scheduled and public charter flights operated by Saudi Arabian Airlines. Our goal is to make every flight a safe and pleasant experience for our customers.

In this concern, our stations within the U.S. have identified all sufficient resources and developed procedures that will allow them to effectively bring a plane off the runway and open the door, giving the passengers the opportunity to deplane within specified time limits.

Our intention is to submit to the Department of Transportation (DOT) this service plan that addressing particular issues and needs of consumer interests, and implement the provisions of DOT Passengers Protection Regulation. Saudi Arabian Airlines’ goal is to make every flight a safe, secured and pleasant experience for our customers.

Saudi Arabian Airlines’ Assurances to Customers:

For international flights covered by this Plan that depart from or arrive at a U.S. airport, Saudi Arabian Airlines will not permit an aircraft to remain on the tarmac at any airport for more than four hours before allowing passengers to deplane, unless:

The pilot-in-command determines there is a safety-related or security-related reason why the aircraft cannot leave its position on the tarmac to deplane passengers; or

Air traffic control advises the pilot-in-command that returning to the gate or another disembarkation point elsewhere in order to deplane passengers would significantly disrupt airport operations.

IMPORTANT:

CUSTOMERS ARE NOTIFIED OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION REGARDING CERTAIN CUSTOMER SERVICE PROVISIONS DURING A LENGTHY TARMAC DELAYED FLIGHT

Service provided when a tarmac delay occurred, cancellation and diversions:

Deplaning of customers may occur when safe and secure either at a terminal gate or at a designated aircraft parking position on airport grounds via stairs and airline sourced ground transportation to the airport building (if needed).

All customers who want to deplane from a lengthy tarmac delayed flight and make alternative travel arrangements consistent with airline ticketing policies may do so when it is determined to be safe and secure, after the aircraft has been moved into position for deplaning, all operational requirements for deplaning have been completed and the pilot-in-command has allowed customer deplaning to begin.

In most cases, the flight will continue to its destination after passenger deplaning has occurred as Saudi Arabian Airlines’ customers continue to tell us that, generally, they want to get to their intended destination, even if their arrival will be delayed.

In instances where customers may deplane at a remote aircraft parking position, re-boarding the aircraft will not be possible and will not be made available. In cases where an aircraft that has returned to a gate in accordance with the Plan, customers may be advised how long the aircraft will remain at the gate to determine how much time (if any) customers may spend inside the airport building prior to having to re-board the aircraft for the continuation of the flight. Passengers need to keep their passports & boarding passes with them to re-board when permissible.

Customers who chose to deplane and make alternative travel arrangements, consistent with airline ticketing policies, his checked luggage will be getting down from the plane. In cases where the flight returns to the gate and is canceled, customers will be able to retrieve their checked luggage at the airport’s baggage claim facilities.

Depending upon the circumstances of the delay, aircraft catering provisions and local airport catering supplies, adequate food may only be a snack item such as pretzels, and at the very least, customers will be offered drinking water, if not a full beverage service. It is possible that if a snack/meal and beverage services are provided on the ground during a delay event that certain snack/meal and beverage services will not be made available during flight once the aircraft has departed.

All aircraft covered by this plan have on-board lavatory services for customer use, and in accordance with this plan customers will have access to aircraft lavatories at no later than two hours of delay and so long as the pilot-in-command has indicated it is safe and secure for customers to move about the aircraft cabin.

Saudi Arabian Airlines in-flight crews are trained to provide first aid service for all passengers. In addition, contact, coordinate, and if necessary, utilize third party medical service providers, if available, to address customer needs during flight or when an aircraft is experiencing a lengthy tarmac delay. Cabin crews members will also coordinate with the pilot-in-command and station personnel of the flight should any customer require immediate medical attention.

Customers are encouraged to make appropriate preparations for air travel, such as bringing essential needs onboard the aircraft in accordance with advised carry-on restrictions, including medicines and other medically required items, baby and child care products and other items essential to personal health and communication requirements. Saudi Arabian Airlines, in most cases, will not have such products available for customers.

IMPORTANT NOTES TO PASSENGER ABOUT OUR POLICIES FOR THE FOLLOWING:

1. Offer the lowest available fare

Saudi Arabian Airlines will offer our passengers the lowest fare for which they are eligible at the time of travel. Flight, class of service that required by our customer will be available through our telephone reservation system, an internet website, ticketing sales offices, or airport sales counters. Our sales representatives will assist our passengers in looking for lower-cost alternatives on our schedules flights as much as possible.

2. Allow reservation to be cancelled for a certain period of time after purchase

When passenger book and purchase his ticket for a trip over our flights, Saudi Arabian Airlines is committed to keep his booking 24 hours before the flight departure. Passenger is allowed to cancel his booking without penalty and receive a 100 percent refund provided he cancel the reservation within 24 hours of purchase.

3. Prompt ticket refunds

Saudi Arabian Airlines shall provide our passengers the opportunity for refunding the ticket value upon request once a request is received from our client accompanied with any required documentation for refund. Saudi Arabian Airlines shall process the refund on timely manner of the ticket price less of any applicable service fees to original form of payment. In addition, refunds on tickets (paper and electronic) less than $3,000 can be obtained at any of our US airport ticket offices or city ticket offices. All other refund requests should be sent to in writing to the following address:

Or, By calling the number appears on the back side of our Alfursan membership mileage card for Alfursan members or e-mail to: alfursan@saudia.com

If the ticket is issued by using a credit card to make the purchase we shall submit the request for a refund to the credit card issuer within 7 business days of receiving the completed request for refund. The credit card issuer will refund the purchase price under the terms of the credit card agreement.

For purchase made with cash, check or other forms of payment, we shall issue a refund within 20 business days of receipt of the completed request for refund.

Certain refund requests cannot be accommodated in the time frames discussed above. For example, refunds for lost tickets must be held for 90 days to ensure that they are not found and used. Tickets with adjustments (for example, a customer buys a First Class ticket but actually travels in the main (Business, or Coach class) require that we verify the itinerary and class of service flown, and this can take up to 45 days. Tickets purchased through a wholesaler that include non air portions cannot be processed as they are handled by the tour provider. Tickets that were purchased outside the U.S. require special handling because we must ensure that currency conversion rates are calculated correctly.

Refunds for credit card purchases will be made only to the credit card account. Service charges are collected for some refunds (e.g., lost tickets).

4. Non increase in ticket value after the purchase

Saudi Arabian Airlines is committed to the US DOT regulation requirement for not adopting any ticket price increase after the purchase of ticket.

5. Flights with Over sales

Saudi Arabian Airlines, like most airlines, overbook flights. We do this because historical information shows that some people do not cancel their reservations when they change their travel plans. Overbooking is done in the best interest of both customers and the airline. Without the revenue produced by filling seats that would otherwise go empty. This does not necessarily mean that customers with reservations will not be accommodated on their flight. The overwhelming majority of overbooked flights depart with all customers who have reservations and are present for departure.

If at departure time more customers with confirmed reservations are present than there are seats available, gate agents will first ask for volunteers who are willing to give up their seats in exchange for compensation and a confirmed seat on a later flight. On extremely rare occasions, a customer may be denied boarding on an involuntary basis, if a sufficient number of volunteers are not obtained. In such events, we will usually deny boarding based upon check-in time, but we may also consider factors such as severe hardships, fare paid, and status within Alfursan loyalty program. With few exceptions, persons denied boarding involuntarily are entitled to compensation under the DOT regulations.

Additional information concerning our overbooking policies can be found in our conditions of carriage. Upon request, reservations representatives or airport agents will advise the passenger if the flight is overbooked at the time of his reservation or during airport check-in. Bear in mind that, as stated above, most overbooked flights do in fact have sufficient seats to accommodate all customers who are present for departure.

Saudi Arabian Airlines will give our passengers clear information about policies and services aspects that may be important to our clients on our website, and when asked through our telephone reservations staff and our representatives at the sales and airports counters. This means providing clear information about the following:

Aircraft configuration.

The important terms and conditions that apply to our ticket and travel including cancellation
policies.

Any change of aircraft type on a single flight with the same flight number.

We also make information about our frequent flying program "AlFursan" available on our website and in materials provided upon enrolment and updates to our loyalty program members.

7. Encourage of good customer service from code-share partners
We encourage our code-share partners to provide service commitments comparable to our own.

8. Ensure responsiveness to customer complaints
We respond quickly on our customer complaints. If a passenger have a complaint regarding
our services or product, he shall provide us with the information directly to the following address:

We will acknowledge receiving the complaints in 3 business days, and shall respond send our substantive response within 60 business days of receiving the written complaint.

9. Deliver Baggage on time

We work hard to deliver every checked baggage to our client on time. However, in some occasions checked baggage are delayed or misplaced, we will make every reasonable effort to deliver our client bags within 24 hours. If our client incurred any expenses because of baggage delay and are eligible to receive compensation, we will compensate him for reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket amount in accordance to Saudi Arabian Airlines policy.

10. Properly accommodate passengers with disabilities and other special needs

Saudi Arabian Airlines is dedicated to offer convenient and comfortable service to all our clients especially those passengers with disabilities and unaccompanied minors who need additional assistance, and special care during the flight.

Passengers with disabilities

Saudi Arabian Airlines is one of the carriers who have a special unit for caring of passengers with disabilities and developing more services to our client with disabilities which made us one of the pioneers airlines in handling such type of passengers either on ground or on board the flight.

Our services are in full compliance with all applicable regulations, that our customers' needs are met and that we do not discriminate against passengers on the basis of disability. Our employees are specifically well trained to support the commitment to our customers with disabilities.

Our customers can ask for any service they require on ground or onboard the flight at the time of communicating with our reservation offices to make booking in order to arrange for available service in advance. Advance notification from the customer will assist us to plan ahead of time whatever required for his case as special arrangement is required for some services. For the special services all passengers with disabilities may easily request through our website or by calling us through our toll free numbers. Our website includes details of all services available to our clients with disabilities.

Unaccompanied Minors:

Children under 12 years are welcome on board our flights if not accompanied with their parents or an adult custodian. For travelling alone of a young passenger we have special rules to accept the minors on our flights to make their travel happy, comfortable and uninterrupted. The following are steps for accepting minors on board our flight:

Children under 5 years of age are not permitted to travel alone and must be accompanied by a ticketed adult on all of our flights.

Children between 5-11 may travel without an adult but are required to use our unaccompanied special minor services procedures which available at our sales offices and through our website. This service is provided to our clients free of charge, but for using this service there are certain formalities need to be completed before the travel is started. This service may not be available on some flights for reasons beyond our control (for instance, if international connections on other airline is involved as different policies are followed by other carriers).

For any additional information, the client may use our website for getting more information about this service or direct his queries to our customer service representative mentioned in our web page.

In order to avoid any inconvenience our passengers might experience during cancellation of misconnection, we shall:

Do our best to contact our client in advance regarding a flight cancellation using the contact information in his reservation, or send message through SMS or

Work to confirm a reservation on the next available flight that we operate to the same destination and class of service if rebooking is necessary.

Make available information about passenger rebooking through our website, at an airport kiosk, when available, and through our airport and reservations agents.

Special Note:

Some of our services are sold in or originate at points outside of the United Sates and those services may be subject to rules and regulations of those locations. We will comply with the rules and regulations that apply where those services are originated. Passenger rights and obligations associated with passenger travel are mentioned in our Contract of Carriage.